


Don't Waste Your Life

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Kiss, Getting Together, Ho Yinsen Lives, M/M, Soulmates, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 12:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17345525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Tony had sort of given up hope on meeting his soulmate. And then they met while being held captive by Ten Rings. They made it out miraculously alive, but now Tony's starting to notice that they don't kiss, and they're notreallytogether.





	Don't Waste Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for my square Tony Stark/Yinsen

Tony stared at the ceiling. If the top of the cave could even be called a ceiling. 

"You alright there Stark?" Yinsen asked. 

"Considering that we're captives together, you should probably call me Tony. Since we might get killed together and all." 

"That doesn't answer my question." 

"I have a hole in my chest," Tony said dully. "I think I'm doing as well as can be expected." 

"I don't think you look too bad." 

Tony snorted. "Thanks pal." 

And that was the start of it. Tony thought that he'd outgrown expecting his soulmate to save him from himself fifteen years ago, but, well, here he was. Yinsen didn't say anything to him about it, but Tony saw the small outline of a rose along the inside of his thumb one day while they worked. 

Tony paused, but only for the briefest of moments before he kept working. "You saw my soulmark while you were hooking the electromagnet up, right?" 

Yinsen didn't say anything at first. "It didn't seem polite to mention." 

"Didn't seem polite or you didn't want to mention that my soulmate was you." 

"I didn't think you'd want to know it was me. You know we've met before?" 

Tony glanced up at him for a second before going back to looking at his hands. It was delicate work, and if it looked like he wasn't working, he ran the risk of their kidnappers running back in for another round of torture. "I don't remember that." 

"I wouldn't remember it either, with how much you'd had to drink. Not to mention give a speech without slurring." 

"Was it a convention?" Tony asked, brow furrowed as he struggled to remember. 

"Mm," Yinsen nodded. "Switzerland, 2000." 

After a minute of racking his brain, he had to admit defeat. There had been an exploding plant maybe, but that was the extent of his his memories. "I don't remember." 

"I know." 

"Did you know back then? That we were soulmates?" 

"No, just wanted to ask about a part of your speech." He shrugged. "You were very popular that night, you couldn't stop to talk to everyone." 

He knew that Yinsen wasn't judging him, but that didn't make him feel any better. 

"Do you have a family Tony?" 

Tony thought for a second about not letting the subject change, but what good would that do? "No. Couple people that care about me, that's it. What about you?" 

"I... used to have a family. A wife. Two children. They died when the Ten Rings captured me." 

"I'm sorry." It was inadequate. Tony knew it was inadequate, but what else could he say? 

Yinsen shrugged. "Better for them to have died quickly. And. Better, perhaps, that I do not have to worry about their futures now that we have met." 

"I'm sorry," Tony said again, voice weak. 

"Everything happens. We cannot change the past." 

"Did you-" Tony knew he shouldn't ask, but he couldn't stop the words from coming out now that he'd started "-love her? Your wife?" 

"She was my partner and the mother of my children. I love her very much, but not as a husband should have loved a wife as wonderful as her." He shot Tony a self-deprecating smile. "We all make mistakes Tony. Perhaps mine was not moving to the States as a young man and sparing her." 

* * *

They didn't do anything while in captivity, but that was mostly due to the video cameras and the lack of food and the unending cold rather than a lack of interest on Tony's part. They already used Yinsen against him, and that was when they thought the only connection they had was being held captive together. If they'd caught even a whiff of soulmates on them... well. Tony didn't like to think about it. 

Tony was scared witless when they started to escape, because Yinsen looked at the screen and said, "We need more time. I'm going to get you some more time." He started running off before Tony could even think to stop him. 

"You're going to come back here. We're leaving together Yinsen!" Tony screamed, and it scraped his already abused throat raw but he had to make sure that Yinsen heard him. They had to leave here together, that was the plan. Tony was barely going to be able to live with himself as it was, if he was responsible for his soulmate dying as well, he didn't know how he would be able to make it. 

Every second that he was gone was a moment that Tony frantically watched the doorway instead of the computer screen. His chest was preemptively aching with loss, and it evaporated all at once when Yinsen ran back through the door. 

"Don't do that again." 

"You needed more time," Yinsen said, shaken but firm in his belief. 

* * *

When Stane tried to kill him, he hurt Yinsen. He was in the hospital for two weeks, and Tony swore that he wouldn't tell another soul that they were soulmates until he was sure he could keep him safe. 

Yinsen didn't roll his eyes when Tony told him that, but it was a near thing. "If you're sure," is what he ended up saying, patting Tony's hand clumsily. 

Tony swallowed thickly. "He smashed your glasses. We'll- uh. Have to get you some new ones when you're up and about again." 

"Hmm." He closed his eyes, and Tony thought that maybe he fell asleep. "So, you are Iron Man? It has a nice ring to it." 

"I shouldn't have told them." Yinsen opened his eyes a crack to peek at him. "I wasn't thinking about how it would it affect you, I just. I want to be a soulmate you'd be proud to have." 

"Why is it," Yinsen said slowly, fighting the drowsiness the drugs were making him feel, "that you think I am not already proud of you?" His eyes fluttered closed, and his breathing evened out-- clearly he'd lost the fight with sleep. 

Tony kissed his forehead, lips shaking. "Because your family is dead because of me," he whispered. 

Yinsen's family was dead because of him, yet he didn't leave Tony's side once during the palladium poisoning. He practically shoved smoothies down his throat, and he told Tony the lithium dioxide would temporarily abate the symptoms. He glared at Shield and their unwelcome interference, but he didn’t say anything other than that one time they stabbed Tony in the neck with something they already knew about. Even if they hadn’t been soulmates, that would have made Tony want to marry him. 

* * *

Tony was endlessly grateful for Yinsen's presence in his life and at his side, but he couldn't help but think about why they weren't... physical. They were undoubtedly close, but the reasons Tony'd had for them not kissing when they first met no longer applied. And it made sense that after what happened with Ten Rings and Obadiah they would both need some time to adjust. It even-- sort of-- made sense that with the palladium poisoning they wouldn't do anything, but their lives were finally calm, and still, not a hint of closeness between them. Tony didn't know how to broach the topic, and Yinsen didn't seem bothered with the state of their relationship, so he obviously wasn't the one to bring it up. 

* * *

Tony didn't really know what was happening, except he was suddenly housing an entire team of superheroes while he was working on bringing one hundred percent clean energy to the world and Yinsen was working on getting his medical license, and he still didn't know what was going on between him and Yinsen. Were they platonic soulmates and Tony had missed the memo? Honestly that wouldn't surprise him, all things considered. 

Their team was called the Avengers for some reason that either didn't exist or that no one wanted to tell Tony. One month turned to three, then five, then all of a sudden it had been a year that they were fighting crime, and Yinsen was happily working as a surgeon at a nearby hospital. 

"Okay Tony level with me," Clint said one day, which automatically put Tony on the defensive. The last time Clint had started a conversation that way, Tony had ended up calling an exterminator for the Tower, and all because Clint had 'wanted to see what would happen'. "What's going on with you and Yinsen?" 

"What?" Tony frowned. "Nothing's going on, we're fine." 

"See, like that right there," Clint said, pointing a finger at him. "That's how people in relationships respond, but you don't so much as touch each other as far as me or anyone else has seen. You were captives together, that's bound to make people close, but now that you're here, perfectly safe, you're still banding together. So what's going on? Are you a couple that's not big into PDA? Just friends that are weirdly close?" 

Tony didn't have an answer for that-- hadn't even thought that someone would ever ask, to be honest-- so he fumbled a bit. "Of course we're friends. God Barton get a life and stop scrutinizing mine." He rolled his eyes for effect and hoped he didn't look as tense as he felt. 

"I was just curious, no need to bite my head off," Clint mumbled, and Tony suppressed a sigh as he walked away. That wasn't going to help him. If anything, he'd just encouraged Clint to find out more by watching, and Tony didn't want to know what he'd see it that happened. 

He had to be proactive then. Figure out what was going on with him and Yinsen before Clint did and tried to ask Tony about it. So Tony had a plan when Yinsen got home from the hospital that night. He and Tony started exchanging stories about their days as they walked to Yinsen's room for him to grab some clothes and take a shower. There was a lull in the conversation as Yinsen searched his dresser for something comfortable to change into for the rest of the day. 

"What are we to each other?" Tony asked, because blurting it out was pretty much the sum of his plan. 

"Ehm." Yinsen frowned as he picked out some sweatpants, wondering if this was a trick question of some sort. "Soulmates?" 

"Well yes, but are we a couple? Do we want to be? We never talked about because it was one thing after another, but don't you think we should know by now?" 

Yinsen fiddled with his glasses, taking them off and setting them on the dresser top. "I suppose so, yes." 

Then neither of them said anything. 

Tony's shoulders slumped. "Right. Guess that answers that." He started to walk away, but Yinsen's voice stopped him. 

"Why is it that you expect me to put my heart on the line without offering yours?" 

"I'm all you have here," Tony admitted. "If I tell you that I want more, what guarantee do I have that you won't say yes just to keep your home?" 

"You should trust that I respect both of us too much to lie about something like that," Yinsen said quietly. 

"Okay," Tony swallowed, "fine. I want us to be a couple, and I've spent the last two years trying to figure out if I could get you to sleep in the same bed as me without making you uncomfortable, but obviously I've come to the conclusion that that's never going to happen." 

"You assume a lot for a person that never asked a single question." 

Tony's eyes jerked up to look at him. Yinsen was giving him an even stare from the dresser, holding his clothes close to his chest like they would protect him from any harsh reactions. "Would you- I mean, you'd want to?" 

"Tony... if I didn't want to keep your company, I would have left a long time ago." 

"Oh," he said faintly. "Then would you- like to go on date with me?" 

"You don't think that maybe we're past that?" 

"Married couples go on dates," Tony pointed out. 

"True, but I think the best and worst parts of dating are already behind us." 

"Ah yes the worst part of dating: the ritualistic kidnapping to make sure you actually like each other," Tony said wryly. 

Yinsen gave him a flat look. 

"Hey you knew I was an idiot when you agreed to this." 

"I don't recall agreeing to anything," Yinsen said, but there was a smirk curling around the edge of his mouth. 

"That's true; you said that we were past dates and not much else. It's enough to make a guy wonder if you're actually interested," Tony teased. 

"Is it." 

For some reason, Tony didn't see the kiss coming. Yinsen set his clothes back on top of the dresser and walked towards him, but Tony didn't expect it. Even when Yinsen put a hand on the side of his face, Tony was mostly just confused. 

And then Yinsen was kissing him and Tony felt like an idiot for not realizing what was going on, so he swore that he would never admit to that-- when he had enough presence of mind to think, anyways. At the moment, he was more than happy to grab a fistful of Yinsen's scrubs and keep him from pulling away. 

"You should move to my room," Tony blurted, a touch breathless. "We could do this more often." 

Yinsen chuckled as he moved away. "Tony. I just finished a shift, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I'm not going to spend the rest of the day moving my things into your room." 

"Then don't. I can hire people to do that for you tomorrow." 

Yinsen sighed, shaking his head with a fond smile. "I'll think about it." He grabbed his clothes and walked to the door, pausing suddenly. He turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Tony. "You're not allowed to move anything while I'm in the shower." 

Tony couldn't help but pout. That had been his plan, after all.


End file.
